Activist investors have launched a fresh attack on the parent company of Wagamama after its finance chief stepped down and its share price plunged by 20pc in one month.

The Hong Kong-based hedge fund Oasis Management, which has built up a 14pc stake in the noodle chain’s parent company The Restaurant Group (TRG), fired a salvo at the company for promoting a finance chief with close links to its boss Andy Hornby.

Oasis, now TRG’s second-biggest shareholder, said it was “concerning” that Mark Chambers had worked with TRG’s chief executive Mr Hornby for years prior to TRG and had not held a chief financial officer role for a decade.

Daniel Wosner, MD and head of Europe at Oasis, told The Telegraph: “The company appointed, in a matter of weeks, a candidate who has worked with the CEO at … other companies, and not in a CFO role. Was this truly a robust and healthy process to find the best candidate for the company?”

Topics